Los Angeles DUI Attorney Blog

Celebrities often do awful, and awfully crazy, things. In 2011, we saw some crazy and scary Beverly Hills DUI stories. In this post, we will review four of the year’s most scandalous celebrity moments.

1. Lindsay Lohan – Still Reeling from Her 2007 Los Angeles DUI

Unless you were living under a rock, you tuned into the Lindsay Lohan’s seemingly never-ending Los Angeles DUI probation violation saga. Ms. Lohan’s 2011 got off to a bad start on January 22, when she allegedly pilfered a necklace worth $2,500 from a store in Venice. She pleaded not guilty to the resultant felony grand theft charge, but the karmic dye had been cast for Ms. Lohan in 2011, and she proceeded to make headline after headline: she violated her probation, got sentenced, made tearful appeals, etc. Then she made headlines once again by agreeing to pose nude in Playboy for nearly $1 million. Her father, meanwhile, got arrested twice in one week for domestic violence charges.

Altogether, not a great scene for the Lohans in 2011.

2. Christina Aguilera – Watches as Her Boyfriend Gets Tagged for DUI

2011 was not a great year for pop princesses, was it?

On March 1, Christina Aguilera was arrested for public intoxication, while her boyfriend was tagged for DUI. Aguilera had come off of a rough 2010, but she rebounded magnificently in the latter half of 2011, thanks in part to her widely successful TV vehicle, The Voice. It goes to show that Beverly Hills DUI does not commit you to certain and permanent debauchery

3. Estella Warren’s Hit and Run DUI (with a Bit of Cop Kicking Thrown in There As Well)

Estella Warren, an actress in Planet of the Apes, was arrested for DUI back in May. She allegedly resisted arrest and kicked the cop who tried to handcuff her. Warren smashed her Prius into three separate cars and then drove away from the scene. All told, she got hit with charges of assault, felony escape, hit and run, and DUI.

4. Charlie Sheen – Not Busted for Beverly Hills DUI, but Might As Well Have Been

2011 was the year of Charlie Sheen’s epic, magnificent public meltdown. The year started out crazy, when Sheen was arrested after trashing his Las Vegas hotel room and partying with an adult film star. Charlie thus began a headline-grabbing rampage that included getting fired from Two and a Half Men after calling his boss “a contaminated maggot” among other things and then waxing similarly poetic (and vitriolic) about everyone from his ex-wife to Alcoholics Anonymous to Thomas Jefferson.

If you were arrested for driving under the influence in Beverly Hills in 2011, connect with a respected, highly successful Beverly Hills DUI criminal defense attorney at the Kraut Law Group (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935). Attorney Michael Kraut is a former prosecutor with a terrific record at jury trials.

Continue reading "4 Biggest Beverly Hills DUI Stories of 2011" »

Americans love glamour and beauty, and we are fascinated by stories of “celebrities gone wrong.” Hence, our obsession with Beverly Hills DUI stories and news events involving pop princesses, celebutantes, fashionistas, powerful politicians, and others who get into trouble with the law. Sometimes, these stories are bittersweet; sometimes they are tragic, sometimes they are purely humorous. But we can learn a lot more from Beverly Hills DUI defendants than the tabloids (and even the mainstream news media) are willing to teach us.

Take the recent arrest of 2010 Miss USA, Rima Fakih. The 26-year-old captured America’s heart in 2010, but police captured her last week. Although police did not release details about the DUI arrest, the story is practically pregnant with object lessons for Beverly Hills DUI defendants and friends and family members of defendants.

According to the Detroit Free Press and other local news reports, Fakih had appointed herself designated driver last Saturday evening, when she went out with some friends. After noticing that her friend seemed too intoxicated to drive, Fakih took over the wheel. She quickly realized that she, too, was too intoxicated to drive. So she pulled the car over. Too late. Police had already spotted her, and she was quickly rounded up and charged with DUI. After news of her arrest broke, she, like so many Beverly Hills DUI arrestees – reached for her Twitter account to deny her reality: “Let's clear things up now...I'm not in Michigan and I'm not in jail! Wrong Fakih.”

She later removed that post. But it’s instructive for us to talk about that.

We can see two lessons from here:

Number one, when people “have a few drinks” while trying to be a designated driver, bad things happen. In Fakih’s case, fortunately, no one was hurt and no property was damaged.

Number two, defendants can enter a period of abject denial after being arrested. This is a human reaction. But it can be a compromising reaction, in that you may do or say things after your arrest (because of your denial) that will compromise your ability to build a case.

To protect yourself and your rights, connect with the Beverly Hills’s Kraut Law Group (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935). Attorney Michael Kraut is an experienced, highly confident, Harvard Law School-educated Beverly Hills DUI criminal defense attorney. He served as a prosecutor for 14 years, so he knows how prosecutors will treat your case.

Continue reading "Like a Glamorous Beverly Hills DUI Story, but in Michigan: Former Miss USA Busted for DUI While Serving as a “Designated Driver”" »

You’ve recently been hit with a charge of driving under the influence in Beverly Hills, and you’re still reeling from it. The mind is churning up worst case scenarios:

• What if the person you injured during your Beverly Hills DUI doesn’t recover or is saddled with a lifelong disability?
• What if you have to go to jail for years?
• Who will take care of your business, your home, your family?
• What if you lose your driver’s license and have to pay thousands of dollars in fines, etc?
• What should you be doing now to make your new job as a Beverly Hills DUI defendant easier and more strategic?

We've discussed the direct consequences of Beverly Hills DUI conviction (e.g. jail time, fine/fees, mandatory alcohol school, mandatory installation of an IID device in your vehicle, probation, etc) as well as the indirect consequences (e.g. hiked up insurance rates, loss of confidence, loss of self respect and professional reputation, massive, chronic inconveniences that strain your budget, etc).

But a third, arguably even scarier set of penalties awaits you. These pertain to the effect of your DUI event and possible conviction on society as a whole.

To get a little philosophical for a second… cities like Beverly Hills (and Los Angeles in general) maintain their social cohesion through bonds of trust, order, and mutual self interest. Those bonds are not absolute, however. Difficult economic conditions, fraud and crime, war, disease, and other destabilizing forces can fray these bonds and lead to chaos in the community.

Now, obviously, your Beverly Hills DUI is not going to “make or break” the city. At least, hopefully it’s not going to. On the other hand, the incremental effects of Los Angeles DUI arrests, convictions, consequences, etc on society as a whole are non-negligible. In other words, what you do behind the wheel has an effect beyond the immediate radius of your accident.

If you recall the movie Office Space, you’ll likely remember the scam the co-workers pulled – they essentially tried to “shave off” fractions of a cent from millions of bank accounts in a high-tech heist. Individually, no one customer was hurt; collectively, however, the financial institution was damaged.

The obvious retort is: Well, it was just me who got in trouble. How much of a difference could my actions have made? But multiply that attitude times hundreds of thousands of Angelinos, and you have a recipe for chaos, disorder and worse.

The moral here is: You have a choice. Even if you’ve already a committed a Beverly Hills DUI – and even if that DUI was serious and caused injury and/or property damage – you have a choice right now to change your perspective on what happened and not only rebuild your own life but also work towards healing society and making the city and our world a more compassionate, livable, hopeful environment.

Of course, it's important to ground ideals into solid thinking and strategy. Connect with a Beverly Hills DUI defense attorney from the Kraut Law Group (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935 ) right now to plan your next steps. Attorney Kraut is a hugely respected former prosecutor who can help you understand your rights and best next steps.

Continue reading "Beverly Hills DUI Penalties: When You Suffer, Everyone Around You Does, Too" »

Perhaps you already follow the latest Beverly Hills DUI news in the tabloids or on the blogosphere. Or maybe you stick to more “serious” sources of DUI news, such as news reports or even professional analyses of DUIs.

But even if you scour all these sources, you will come up with a rather superficial understanding of what’s like to be a Beverly Hills DUI defendant, and you may not learn much meaningful information to:

A) Help you avoid getting into DUI trouble in the first place;

B) Help you understand what to do (and more significantly, what not to do) after you’ve been pulled over for driving under the influence in Beverly Hills or elsewhere in the Southland.

Fortunately, you now have a novel way to "pull back the curtain" and see what Beverly Hills DUI defendants really experience.

The TLC Network launched a new show last week called “DUI” in the spirit of reality TV shows like Cops and Jail. Reviews for the show generally have been positive. The Washington Post’s blog called the show “irresistible” and discussed how the show is interested in going deeper – actually following motorists “after they failed sobriety test… days and weeks into court appearances and the punitive phase of their charges.”

The Washington Post review also said that “What’s emphasized here are the disastrous financial and personal losses that come for everyday working folks arrested for DUI. Granted, they should never have been behind the wheel, but “DUI” is surprisingly uninterested in MADD-style scolding and more focused on legal process. It’s also refreshingly empathetic to everyone involved.”

This last point is absolutely crucial, and it is also wonderful.

It’s so easy in today’s world – where we’re berated with twitter-esque headlines 24/7 – to demonize people, judge them, blame them, categorize them, etc. Instead, we can learn a lot more – and protect our roads a lot better – if we focus on empathy. What feelings did you feel when you were pulled over for driving under the influence in Beverly Hills? How could your needs have been met differently that evening? Unless we ask questions like this – probing to the heart of the problem – our punishments are going to be superficial, relatively useless, and certainly damaging to defendants.

If you’ve been struggling with a DUI charge – fretting about what might happen to your license, your job, your pocket book, or even your freedom – you likely need the assistance of a qualified and highly experienced Beverly Hills DUI defense attorney. The Kraut Law Group (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935) is dedicated to providing empathetic, substantial, and powerfully strategic services for defendants. Connect with the former Deputy DA and Harvard Law School educated Attorney Kraut today to explore the most effective solution for your DUI problems.

Continue reading "Will Beverly Hills DUI Defendants Like or Loath TLC’s New Show “DUI”?" »

It’s no secret that driving under the influence in Beverly Hills or elsewhere in the Southland is a one-way ticket for disaster, for your license, your pocket book, your reputation, and potentially, your life and the lives of the people on the road.

If it’s such a “no brainer” to avoid driving DUI, than anyone with even a modicum of common sense should understand that violating California Vehicle Code Section 23152(a) or 23152(b) is less than a stellar idea.

It sure seems like a no-brainer. But why, then, do so many people get into so much trouble behind the wheel? Perhaps more interestingly, why do professionals in the legal system -- even people who prosecute DUI cases day in, day out, as part of their livelihood -- make the same blunders that “amateurs” do?

We can save the psychological speculation for a later time. It’s probably more interesting to take a look at specific examples, such as last Wednesday’s arrest of Yakima County Prosecutor Jim Hagarty. According to a local Seattle news report at www.kapptv.com: “The State Patrol says Hagarty rear-ended another car on South First Street about 7:15 last night. Troopers said Hagarty showed signs of impairment, so they arrested him and took him to the county jail for a breathalyzer test. The State Patrol hasn't released the results of that test, but Hagarty was cited for DUI.”

When a prosecuting attorney gets arrested for DUI in Beverly Hills, Yakima County, or anywhere else, it's a fascinating and certainly sad development. It should ring alarm bells as well as underline the fact that defendants in Beverly Hills DUI cases are diverse. They can run the gamut from serial offenders to paragons of rectitude.

We can analyze Hagarty’s arrest on a number of levels. On the one hand, the cynical reader might think it indicates that our Beverly Hills’ DUI problem is totally out of control: even prosecutors are getting into the act. The cynic might say: "lawmakers need to pass more draconian anti-DUI laws, and we need to “turn the screws” harder on anyone guilty of DUI."

On the other hand, you can embrace a more expansive view, and appreciate that the challenges and struggles that lead people to drive DUI are profound, subtle, and worthy of compassion.

Perhaps the "assumed choice" – that we have to choose between punishing Beverly Hills DUI drivers or living with dangerous roads – is a false one. Perhaps one way to make roads safer is to understand the complex factors that drive people to commit crimes like Beverly Hills DUI. If we can root out the fundamental causes of bad, dangerous, distracted driving, then we can come up with better remedies. Our problems may be easier to solve than we realize.

For help from a Beverly Hills DUI criminal defense lawyer, connect with the team at the Kraut Law Group. Attorney Michael Kraut is an experienced, well-regarded former prosecutor who has the tools, resources, and connections to help you come up with your best defense.

Continue reading "Beverly Hills DUI Consequences – Does No One Care? Even DUI Prosecutors are Getting Arrested…" »

In the annals of Beverly Hills DUI arrests (and arrests for similar crimes in surrounding areas, like Pacific Palisades and Malibu), few sordid tales are as well known as Mel Gibson’s July 28, 2006 arrest on the PCH for driving under the influence. As regular readers of this blog (and really any publication that even remotely address problems like celebrity dysfunction and Beverly Hills DUI) know, Gibson dined at Moon Shadows in Malibu just hours before getting pulled over and spouting off crazy antisemitic ramblings to the arresting officer.

The “What Women Want” actor absorbed the public once again with a lurid spectacle earlier this year. Taped arguments between Gibson and his ex-girlfriend leaked into the blogosphere, revealing the ramblings of what appeared to be a sad, desperate person. Many of Gibson’s fans abandoned him, and even his long-term Hollywood pals distanced themselves. Never one to be intimidated, however, Gibson refused to allow the bad press to impact his life and his wanderings. Last week, paparazzi snapped some photos of Gibson hanging out at Moon Shadows at Malibu with a young lady friend, whom TMZ.com referred to as a “mysterious blonde.”

Gibson apparently was in no mood to repeat his mistakes of 2006 – he did not consume alcohol, and he had a driver drive him and his date home.

Nevertheless, this story does raise some interesting implications about what happens when defendants commit the same crime twice. If you are arrested and convicted more than once for Beverly Hills DUI, pursuant California Vehicle Code Sections 23152(a) or 23152(b), within a 10-year period, your penalties can escalate substantially.

Collect three DUI’s or more in one decade, for instance, and what ordinarily would be a simple (and potentially dismissible) misdemeanor Beverly Hills DUI charge could get jacked up to a felony DUI charge. As students of the law (and watchers of legal procedural shows) know well, a felony is far more serious than a misdemeanor. Depending on the nature of the legal indiscretion, you may also face additional penalties, such as extended probation time and stricter terms, longer time in alcohol school, longer drivers’ license suspension, more jail time, steeper fines and court costs, and harsher indirect problems, such as spikes in your insurance rates.

For help with your DUI charge, connect with the respected, highly accredited Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Michael Kraut of Beverly Hills’ Kraut Law Group (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935). Attorney Kraut has experience fighting for both sides: before he became a criminal defense attorney, he spent 14 years as a city prosecutor, during which he amassed a nearly perfect record at jury trials and a reputation as a convincing, compassionate, astute student of the law.

Continue reading "Beverly Hills DUI Flashback: Mel Gibson Visits Same Restaurant He Went to Moments Before Infamous 2006 Bust" »

Out of all the celebrities who’ve ever been arrested for driving under the influence in Los Angeles, few if any have generated more riveting legal headlines than Lindsay Lohan.

Ms. Lohan’s 2007 arrest for Los Angeles DUI was a relatively staid affair: she did not hurt anyone while driving DUI; she didn’t resist arrest in some crazy fashion; and didn’t have a BAC in an “out of this world” range (e.g. 0.48% or something). But in the years since her arrest, Lohan has returned again and again to the national spotlight for legal problems, including charges of probation violation, stealing jewelry, and even trying to duck out of her community service obligations at the County Morgue.

25-year-old Lohan's parents have also earned a reputation for flouting the law. Last week, for instance, the actress's father was arrested on two separate occasions for domestic violence and resisting arrest, after he allegedly beat-up and then subsequently harassed his ex-girlfriend, Kate Major.

Lindsay was long ago the picture of wholesomeness. She starred in movies like “Freaky Friday” and Disney TV specials. She has now upped the ante, in some sense, by offering to strip nude for Playboy Magazine for approximately $1 million.

TMZ.com reports that Playboy originally offered her $750,000, but she turned down that offer to ask for a cool million. Obviously, Lohan’s experience with Los Angeles DUI – and her other legal troubles – is not typical. In other words, if you or someone you care about has recently been arrested for a similar crime, you probably should look for other defendants to model. But the extravagant coda to her Los Angeles DUI arrest does give us some universal lessons about what to do (and what not to do) as a defendant.

The most crucial lesson is this: what you do after an arrest can magnify future punishments.

For instance, let’s say you got arrested for driving under the influence in Glendale after you got stopped at a checkpoint. Then you failed some Glendale field sobriety tests. If you go to a Glendale criminal defense attorney, like Michael Kraut at the Kraut Law Group (450 North Brand Boulevard, Suite 600, Glendale, California 91203 Phone: (818) 507-9123), and you avoid doing or saying anything that might comprise your case or give police and prosecutors ammunition, you might be able to fight the charges successfully.

However, if you make mistakes or omissions after the fact – fight with the arresting officers, for instance, or ignore what your attorney tells you, or get into additional legal trouble – then your situation becomes more complicated. The courts will consider not only the facts of the arrest itself but also your character and how you’ve displayed contrition (or lack thereof) since the arrest.

Fortunately, you don’t have to navigate the whole post-Glendale DUI arrest situation by yourself. Michael Kraut, an experienced former prosecutor with great connections and a fantastic track record for success, can help you.

Continue reading "Lindsay Lohan’s Never Ending Los Angeles DUI Complications – Part 2" »

Last week, Randy Michaels, the former Chief Executive of the Tribune Company (owner of the Chicago Tribune, among other media holdings) was arrested near Cincinnati. If you or someone you care about is facing similar charges after failing a field sobriety test in Beverly Hills (or elsewhere in the Southland), Michaels’ ordeal may be quite instructive.

Although blogs and media outlets around the country reported on the arrest, it was most interesting to read the Tribune’s own report about the paper’s former boss. According to an October 14th article in the Tribune, "the media scion was arrested on 2 A.M on Friday the 14th near Ohio Highway 122 and Interstate 75." The Tribune reported that “police found his car stuck in mud with water up to the vehicle's frame in a construction zone… an officer who approached the car said he smelled alcohol on Michaels' breath, noticed his eyes were bloodshot and described him as being “unsteady” on his feet."

As regular readers of this Beverly Hills DUI blog know, those are classic Beverly Hills DUI symptoms.

Michaels was also put through the paces of field sobriety tests – three times – including stand on one leg, and walk the line. Police reports said that Michaels could only balance on his leg for about 3 seconds – a classic indicator that something was either amiss with his vestibular system or that he was under the influence of alcohol or other substances.

After the arrest, Michaels was bought to a city jail in the nearby town of Middletown. After consulting with a lawyer, Michaels refused to take a breathalyzer test at the jail. He was released after posting a bail of around $600.

Michaels took over the Chicago-based Tribune Company in 2007 but departed last year amid allegations that he had brought a “frat house culture” to the corporate offices of the Tribune.

Are there lessons here? Sure.

First of all, it is interesting to note the difference between Michaels’ reaction to his arrest (he called his attorney instead of submitting mindlessly to a breathalyzer test) and to contrast his actions with the actions of other DUI suspects we’ve recently blogged about. If you recall from a few blog posts ago, we talked about how drivers often make impulsive, irrational, destructive decisions AFTER getting arrested that redound to massively complicate their cases.

So here is a takeaway – and it is a takeaway that cannot be stressed enough: even if you’ve made terrible mistakes, such as driving DUI in Beverly Hills with injury, it’s never too late to start making rational, accurate and strategic decisions.

A competent Beverly Hills DUI attorney can help you know what you need to do. Connect with Michael Kraut of Beverly Hills’ Kraut Law Group (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935) today to discuss your needs and concerns. Attorney Kraut is a very reputable former prosecutor (also Harvard Law School educated) with the knowledge, knowhow and connections to give you best service.

Continue reading "Beverly Hills Field Sobriety Test Cautionary Tale: Former CEO of Chicago Tribune Busted for DUI in Cincinnati" »

We can all agree: Southern California would be a much safer place if drivers no longer drove under the influence in Beverly Hills or anywhere else throughout the Southland.

If no one ever got behind the wheel with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) level of 0.08% or greater – no one violated CVC 23152 (a) or 23152 (b) – there would be fewer road deaths, fewer injuries, and significantly less property damage to boot.

And here is a foolproof way to ensure a future with a near zero rate of Beverly Hills DUI:

Reinstate Prohibition.

Our nation experimented with Prohibition back in the 1920s. Protests and entrepreneurial bootleggers’ games notwithstanding, alcohol consumption declined after national Prohibition laws passed. It stands to reason that, if there is enough willpower in Southern California to get similar legislation passed, we will likely see a similarly dramatic decline in alcohol consumption in our community. Obviously, we can never get to zero alcohol consumption because there would always be some people breaking the rules. But we can get pretty close.

Most people out there might write off this little thought experiment as silly. And it might be. But let's think about the possible consequences, as far as Beverly Hills DUIs are concerned. How many lives would be saved every year throughout California if alcohol was legally forbidden (and the law was enforced)? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands? How many accidents would be prevented?

Say there was a new pharmaceutical drug that killed dozens of people every year due to its side effects: there would be no end to the clamor and uproar about how the government would need to outlaw the drug ASAP and punish anyone who continued to try to sell it or market it. And there would be a decent moral case for doing so. If you are going to be morally equitable, then you need to admit there is also a decent case for enforcing this kind of draconian Prohibition.

This hypothetical is meant to illustrate a point about Beverly Hills DUI policy: Draconian, “sweep all the pieces off the chess board” gestures might sound good in theory, depending on how you frame the statistics, but they come at a cost that is too great for (most) people to swallow. Like it or not, alcohol consumption is in some ways an intrinsic component of the American social landscape.

The solution to Beverly Hills DUI is not necessarily to throw the baby out with the bath water – to ban all alcohol consumption – but instead to come up with creative, strategic, scientifically grounded, and morally and ethically acceptable solutions to deter DUIs, make road safer, educate drivers, and generally work with every player in the system to protect people’s rights.

A Beverly Hills criminal defense attorney, such as Attorney Michael Kraut of Beverly Hills’ Kraut Law Group (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935), can help you make progress. Mr. Kraut is a regular TV and news media analyst who specializes in Los Angeles DUI and criminal defense matters, and he is also a Harvard Law School educated former prosecutor. He brings a diverse wealth of experience (and connections) to bear to help his clients make the progress they want.

Continue reading "An Absolutely Guaranteed Way to Permanently End Beverly Hills DUI" »

This blog typically focuses on news stories, advice, and tips to help defendants charged with crimes like Beverly Hills DUIs understand their options, build better defenses, and stay out of trouble.

But considering that the trial of the late Michael Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, has consumed more than its fair share of media oxygen, it may be useful to address this admittedly amazing and scary story in this space.

After all, Murray's trial contains many hidden lessons that can help Beverly Hills DUI defendants understand their challenges, avoid mistakes, and get help before it’s too late.

Prosecutors allege that Dr. Conrad Murray prescribed controlled substances for Jackson, such as the drug propofol, and that the doctor’s reckless care contributed to the pop star’s untimely demise. Prosecutors had been counting on testimony from a Las Vegas pharmacist named Tom Lopez, who was set to testify that Dr. Murray had received huge amounts of propofol -- the drug that allegedly killed the King of Pop. Unfortunately for the prosecution, Lopez skipped town… in a major way. He is now apparently living in Thailand.

Whether Murray received massive amounts of propofol – and handed them off to Jackson – will be pivotal to the case. According to a coroner’s report, the King of Pop died in June of 2009 due to an overdose of the lethal combination of propofol and other drugs.

In August 2009, agents from the DEA raided Lopez’s company, Applied Pharmacy Services, and “seized computers, hard drives and other documents relating to prescriptions for controlled substances written by Dr. Conrad Murray for Michael Jackson and shipping information regarding drugs that may have been sent to Dr. Murray.”

The prosecution wants to read Lopez’s testimony, but the defense is arguing that they wouldn’t have the opportunity to cross-examine Lopez, so the evidence should be kept out of the trial.

So, what lessons can drug Beverly Hills DUI defendants learn from what’s happening?

1) First of all, unexpected weirdness can emerge before, during, or after a trial.

No one anticipated that Lopez would zip halfway across the globe and cause a pivotal legal battle before the trial.

2) Traces of your crime can be found far and wide.

Likely, Dr. Murray did not anticipate that his conversations with a Vegas pharmacist would one day become the center of a legal battle. Thanks to prosecutorial investigation techniques and technology, evidence against you can come from a surprisingly diverse array of sources.

3) The quality of your Beverly Hills DUI criminal defense attorney matters.

Your legal representative’s tenacity and acumen can make a profound difference in your case. Will certain evidence be allowed or disallowed? What precision techniques will work on a jury and what ones won’t? Small nuances – differences between a “good” and “great” Beverly Hills DUI attorney – can translate into widely disproportionate outcomes. A good attorney, for instance, may be able to get you off with a two-year jail sentence. But a great attorney might be able to get the charges dismissed altogether. (Obviously, everything depends on circumstances and context.)

For help with your Beverly Hills DUI charge, connect with the team at Beverly Hill’s Kraut Law Group (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935). Attorney Michael Kraut is an experienced, Harvard Law School educated ex-prosecutor with the connections, legal understanding, compassion, and tenacity to serve you well.

Continue reading "Beverly Hills Drug DUI News Update: Witness in Michael Jackson’s Doc’s Trial Goes MIA!" »

You or someone close to you recently got in trouble for driving under the influence in Beverly Hills. You know you need an attorney to manage your burgeoning legal crisis. But who should you choose, and how might you know when you’ve found the “best” person or legal team for the job?

This seems like a relatively simple question to answer. But it’s a question that can provoke a tremendous amount of anxiety. In fact, when you search for Beverly Hills DUI lawyers online, you will encounter dozens if not hundreds of options. Sifting through the websites of prospective attorneys can leave your head spinning. On the surface, this should be a good thing: the more choices you have, the better, right?

Perhaps. But maybe not, depending on the circumstances.

Social scientist Barry Schwartz described a powerful concept about choosing that might have serious relevance to your frustration. In his book The Paradox of Choice, Schwartz destroys one of the most common myths in our consumer-oriented society. Most of us believe that “the more choices, the merrier.” In other words, when we have more options, we will be more likely to find the “best fit” for our needs, whether we are shopping for shoes, a new house, or a Beverly Hills DUI lawyer. Instead of choosing from six choices, we would rather choose from 60. This kind of optimization thinking has been drilled into our subconscious since childhood.

But Schwartz points out that superabundance of choice leads to analysis paralysis and dissatisfaction with the final results. In other words, when you have to make a decision between 60 different options, even if you choose one that’s “better” than any option you might have gotten had you restricted your choices to six, you will feel worse about the outcome and ultimately less satisfied with your decision over the longer term.

This is the Paradox of Choice: the more choices you have, the less happy you will be with your final choice!

One reason is that when you are exposed to a lot of choices, you will constantly think about how your final choice compares to all the options you didn’t choose. On some level, we all intuitively recognize this problem. Think back to last time you went to Jerry’s Deli or another diner in Long Beach and got overwhelmed by the sheer size of the menu. No matter what you picked – the giant omelet, burger and fries, soup du jour, etc. – you “missed out” on hundreds of other meals you might have also wanted to try.

The solution, according to Schwartz, is to aim for “good enough” solutions to your problems. In other words, you don’t want to be careless and just eliminate choices for the sake of eliminating them. But you want to be choosy about how you choose. A “satisfactory” choice may ultimately leave you feeling better about your decisions than a “best” choice, ironically enough.

Fortunately for you, there is no reason to lower your standards. Attorney Michael Kraut of Beverly Hills' Kraut Law Group (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935) is an experienced Beverly Hills DUI defense lawyer with the resources, wherewithal, unique experience (served as a prosecutor for LA for 14 years), educational background (Harvard Law School), and jury skills to get you excellent results.

Continue reading "Choosing the “Best” Beverly Hills DUI Lawyer Can Drive You Insane" »

The Beverly Hills DUI process is no trip to the candy store.

But when young adults, like That’s So Raven star Orlando Brown, drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs, the penalties and other consequences can be stark and very, very serious. Last Friday night, law enforcement officers pulled over Brown for driving without a license plate while his pregnant girlfriend was in the car. Police investigated and noticed the odor of alcohol on Brown, so he was subject to a field sobriety test. Allegedly, the results were not good.

Police booked Brown at the Hollywood station around 12:30 in the morning and released him early Saturday after he posted $15,000 in bail. The 23-year-old actor/rapper now faces some serious legal difficulties, as well as possible branding troubles. After all, Brown is a product of the Disney TV empire. And Disney is extremely protective of its brand. It wants its stars young, wholesome, and untainted by unsavory allegations – especially trouble like Beverly Hills DUI.

So what does someone like Brown do to fix the situation? And how might his solutions parallel or diverge from the solutions “ordinary people” use, who will also do things like fail Beverly Hills DUI sobriety tests?

The Parallels

The law doesn’t care whether you are a celebrity, teen heartthrob, or ordinary Joe. If you violate California Vehicle Code Section 23152(a) or 23152(b), you are in for a rough ride, including jail time, lost/suspended license, many weeks of alcohol school (mandatory), court costs and fines, and generally a lot of other trouble.

The law, however, is very interested in your past record – what happened to your behavior during and after the accident and/or arrest, and your attitude and level of contrition going forward. If you have a criminal record, it will also come into play. Brown, for instance, got pulled over in 2007 for driving with his lights off, and the police discovered marijuana in his vehicle. Whether that’s an issue in this case isn’t clear. But bad criminal behavior – or even bad driving behavior – will impact your chances for a successful defense against DUI charges.

The Differences

The biggest difference between a celebrity Beverly Hills DUI and an “ordinary Joe” DUI is probably attitudinal. In other words, the attitude with which you approach your DUI situation really matters. If you are imbued with self-confidence, hope, compassion, a sense of remorse, and a sense that you are life is going to be okay despite the bad news – that’s the right attitude to have. Because when you think positively and resourcefully, you will be more likely to connect with other resources that can help you, such as an experienced and extremely competent Beverly Hills criminal defense attorney. Attorney Michael Kraut of Beverly Hills’ Kraut Law Group [9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935] is standing by to provide a free and confidential consultation regarding your DUI arrest. Attorney Kraut is a Harvard Law School-educated former prosecutor. He wields his experience from both sides of the law (prosecutor and defense attorney) to tremendous effect for his clients.

Continue reading "What Scary Beverly Hills DUI Penalties Await That’s So Raven Star Orlando Brown? (Kid Star Busted for DUI with Pregnant Girlfriend in Car? Yikes!)" »

We all know driving under influence in Beverly Hills is a serious crime. And even just getting arrested – not even convicted – can lead to mortifying anguish.

But what if you just get REPORTED as having been arrested for DUI? Can that still do harm?

Ask actor Kiowa Gordon -- the actor who played the shape-shifting werewolf from the Twilight movies. Gordon was arrested last Monday in Tempe, Arizona, for an outstanding arrest warrant related to his possession of drug paraphernalia (a glass marijuana pipe) and possessing alcohol underage.

According to TMZ.com: “The 21-year-old actor was a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped for a ‘routine registration check’ in Tempe…during the stop, cops discovered there was an active warrant for Gordon’s arrest – so they took the actor into custody and booked him into a local jail."

All pretty standard stuff.

And any celebrity who has had to walk the gauntlet of the Beverly Hills’ DUI arrest process knows that getting arrested and booked is no fun. It is probably less than fun to have the same conversation with your publist, executive producer, family, friends, and attorney about what happened – having to re-live the arrest over and over and over again.

But what happens to someone like Gordon, who was falsely accused of driving under the influence? Perception has a way of becoming reality, particularly in Hollywood. This is not just an idle discussion. It has real applications to your Beverly Hills DUI arrest. In other words, irrespective of whether you passed or failed the breathalyzer test, performed well or poorly on field sobriety tests, and did or did not violate traffic law, you will be judged based on the charges. That’s just the sad fact, and it even happens to people who are eventually exonerated.

The question of the day is: how do you deal?

Now that you’ve been arrested, and you face charges – ranging from a simple misdemeanor DUI to a complex hit and run charge – what should your approach be? Should you hope the problem goes away? Pretend that it never happened? Ignore the lessons of the arrest and aftermath of the arrest?

Or should you start looking for resources and contacting a respected Beverly Hills criminal defense attorney?

Successful people recognize how important it is to constantly do reality checks. So, what is true for you now about your DUI arrest? What do you want to happen? Beverly Hills DUI defense attorney Michel Kraut can answer your questions and construct a complete, thorough, and sophisticated case that will get you results. Mr. Kraut is a former Los Angeles city prosecutor – he spent 14 years serving as a Senior Deputy District Attorney – and he is a regular expert consultant on DUI law for KTLA News, The New York Times, Fox News, and other major media organizations. Connect with The Kraut Law Group in Beverly Hills (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935) now for assistance.

Continue reading "Beverly Hills DUI Penalties: False Report on Twilight Actor’s Alleged DUI Riles Up the Blogosphere" »

When a celebrity like famous 80’s rocker Rick Springfield faces a charge like driving under the influence in Beverly Hills or Malibu, you can be sure that tabloids and websites like TMZ.com will be all over the story: speculating, criticizing, and occasionally sympathizing with the famous person at the center of the storm.

If you or someone you care about has recently been hit with a similar charge, such as Glendale DUI, DUI in Pasadena, DUI in Los Angeles, or driving under the influence in Burbank, you might follow these celeb arrests particularly closely – not only to see whether they might have indirect bearing on your case but also to learn more about how defendants deal with them, functionally and dysfunctionally.

Before we get into too much speculation, let’s take a closer look at what happened to Springfield. On May 1, as this blog reported, the “Jessie’s Girl” singer got stopped on Pacific Coast Highway in his 1963 Corvette – allegedly he had been speeding. The 61-year-old Springfield took a blood alcohol test and scored 0.10% BAC – as regular readers of this Los Angeles criminal defense attorney blog know, a BAC level of over 0.08% constitutes a DUI level of intoxication, according to California Vehicle Code 23512(b).

As this blog also tries to hammer home, just because you fail a Beverly Hills breathalyzer test, field sobriety test, or even blood test does not mean that you will be convicted of charges. Springfield, for instance, pled not guilty through his lawyer last Tuesday in Malibu. His case is relatively straightforward (or at least it appears to be, from news stories). His misdemeanor DUI charge is not associated with injuries, hit and run, or other criminal or logistical complications.

Not every defendant faces such simple charges. You might face extra legal trouble and hurdles if you have previously been convicted for a DUI or other criminal charge, if you hurt someone during your DUI, if you engaged in a “hit and run” accident or acted belligerently or inappropriate to police at the scene, etc.

One of the keys to success is acknowledging your specific reality – your concerns, values, fears, and potential punishments. The details of your DUI case matter profoundly – as does your choice of legal representative. Beverly Hills’ Kraut Law Group (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935) can not only advise you about your rights but also help you uncover unique and extremely helpful strategies to battle charges, potentially get them dismissed, and get your life back on track. Attorney Kraut is a well respected former prosecutor (14+ years as a Senior Deputy DA). His combined experience from both sides give him an advantage that few other defense attorneys have.

Continue reading "Beverly Hills DUI Celebrity Update: Rick Springfield Pleads Not Guilty to Malibu Charges" »

The blogosphere was ablaze (no pun intended) last week with horrific Beverly Hills DUI news – 34-year-old Ryan Dunn, co-star of the popular TV series and movie franchise “Jackass,” died last week in a catastrophic fireball. The disaster led some pundits to declare that Dunn “died as he lived” and inspired a callous tweet from the movie reviewer, Robert Ebert. Clearly, Dunn’s epic tragedy dwarfed any other Los Angeles DUI, Burbank DUI, Pasadena DUI, and Glendale DUI news last week, so let’s explore a little bit about what happened and discuss some implications.

News Summary

Dunn had been cited 13 times for driving problems over the past 23 years – including 10 speeding tickets and one DUI from 2005 (charges for this DUI were dropped after Dunn went through a probationary program). Last Monday morning, Dunn had been driving his Porsche 911 GT3 130 miles per hour in Pennsylvania’s West Goshen Township on Route 322, when the car lurched off the road, zoomed over a guardrail, tore through trees, and burst into flames. The carnage was total: a coroner’s report has still not determined whether Dunn and his co-passenger died from fire injuries or blunt force trauma. And a toxicology report will not be available for at least a month or six weeks, so pundits will have to wait for more evidence about whether Dunn was in fact DUI or not.

Whether or not the Jackass star had indeed been driving DUI has been the subject of much internet speculation – Dunn himself uploaded a picture of him and a buddy drinking that night – just hours before the crash took place. (Witnesses did say that Dunn was not intoxicated.)

One of the big lessons is that repeatedly driving under the influence in Beverly Hills is a recipe for disaster, sooner or later. As this blog has detailed multiple times, the punishment for recidivist DUI behavior gets increasingly more stringent. A first time offender, for instance, might wind up with several weeks in alcohol school, a one-year license suspension, and a mandatory installation of an interlock ignition device in his or her vehicle – along with a day or two behind bars.

But a three or four time Beverly Hills DUI offender may not only get punished with a multiyear driver license suspension, enormous court costs and fines, and other court customized punishments, but he or she may also see an ordinary misdemeanor DUI charge elevated to a felony – a far more serious charge.

Fortunately, the Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Michael Kraut may be able to construct a strategic and logically sound defense for you. Beverly Hills’ Kraut Law Group (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935) has earned a reputation for excellent client service. Attorney Kraut draws upon a wealth of experience (including 14 plus years as a Senior Deputy DA for LA – a DUI prosecutor). He has earned the respect not only of past and present clients but also of other lawyers, judges, and juries.

Continue reading "Beverly Hills DUI Mystery: Was Jackass Star, Ryan Dunn, DUI When His Porsche Drove Off the Road at 130 Miles Per Hour?" »

Many arrests for driving under the influence in Beverly Hills involve celebrities driving multimillion dollar cars. Perhaps the only other place on earth that involves as many Maserati, Ferrari, and Bugatti DUI stops is South Beach, Florida. Indeed, South Miami was the scene of a major celebrity DUI bust last week, when Miami Beach police pulled over Rapper Flo Rida for driving with a suspended license and driving with a BAC level of 0.185% (which, as regular readers of this blog know, is more than twice the legal limit for Los Angeles DUI, Glendale DUI, Burbank DUI, and Pasadena DUI.)

Flo Rida – a rapper known for breakout hits like “Right Round” and “Low” -- was tooling around in a $1.7 million Bugatti when the Miami Beach PD stopped him. Here is a quote on the arrest from the Boston Herald: “After he was pulled over, the arresting officer noticed Rida’s heavily bloodshot eyes and slurred speech.” When asked to walk on a straight line, Flo finally gave up. “I can’t do this,” he told the officer. “I don’t think I can walk a straight line. I had a few drinks. Let’s do another test. I live on the other side of the bridge. I can make it home.”

Rida exhibited many symptoms similar to the symptoms of Beverly Hills DUI, such as bloodshot eyes, odor of alcohol, incoherent stories to the police, inability to pass field sobriety tests, such as the walk the line test, failure of the breathalyzer test, and probably many more not mentioned in the article write-up.

Just because you exhibited some or many of the signs of DUI, however, doesn’t necessarily mean that you are DUI – even if you blew a positive on a breathalyzer. For instance, say you spent a long time hanging out at a party, smoking cigarettes until 4 in the morning. By the time you got into your car, you likely felt fatigued, raspy, and your eyes might have been quite bloodshot. If you had one or two drinks early in the evening (which you’ve since metabolized), you may still smell a little bit like alcohol, even if you are sober.

Even if you were not out partying or studying, you may still exhibit certain symptoms that could be classified as DUI (which shouldn’t). For instance, if you are on a ketogenic diet or even a semi-starvation diet, you may produce ketone bodies to burn as fuel, and these can screw up your breathalyzer test results.

To make sense of your charges, connect with an experienced Los Angeles criminal defense attorney. Beverly Hills’ Kraut Law Group (9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935) provides free and confidential consultations to DUI offenders. Attorney Michael Kraut is a former Deputy District Attorney for the City of Los Angeles – he actually spent 14 years in this capacity, as a prosecutor – and he has a terrific track record at jury trials and excellent reviews not only from past clients but also from legal peers.

Continue reading "Beverly Hills DUI Destruction – Rapper Flo Rida Popped for DUI in South Beach with BAC of 0.185" »

Let’s face it: There are a lot more stories about celebrities driving under the influence in Beverly Hills and similar places (e.g. Burbank DUI, Pasadena DUI, Glendale DUI, Los Angeles DUI) than there are newsworthy events about people driving under the influence in national parks. And for good reason. The Southland is replete with millions of drivers, all of them competing to survive countless SIG alerts, smog, and each other. Out in the wide open, there are simply fewer cars and fewer chances for collisions or other problems.

All that said, occasionally, wild stories do come literally out of the middle of nowhere. To wit, consider the case of two bus drivers accused of driving DUI in the middle of Yellowstone National Park while transporting middle school students. Park rangers arrested the two drivers from Karst Stage (names have not yet been released) near the north entrance. KBZK TV reported that the drivers were transporting nearly 100 7th graders from a local Montana elementary school. The owner of Karst Stage, Jerry Perkins, said the company complies with DOT policies and requires third-party drug testing for its employees. In a written statement, Perkins said: “We are reviewing our safety practices to determine what improvements may be made and are very thankful that every one arrived home safely from the field trip.”

The Yellowstone DUI story barely merited a half page report from the Associated Press. But imagine if the details have been slightly different. Imagine, if instead of Yellowstone, the bus drivers drove DUI in the middle of Beverly Hills. And imagine if there had been an injury collision, and students had been hurt or killed. You’d likely see major front page stories and lots of public handwringing about “how to prevent something like this.”

The fact is: DUI is a DUI, on some level. The difference between these scenarios is far smaller than you might realize. It’s easy for friends, colleagues, and the media to villainize convicted DUI drivers. But this cartoonish characterization is incorrect and possibly even dangerous.

The moral of the story is: If you or someone you care about has been pulled over for Glendale DUI, a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney can help you strategize. Attorney Michael Kraut (of Beverly Hills’s Kraut Law Group, 9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935) spent 14-plus years as a Los Angeles Senior Deputy District Attorney, during which time he accrued tremendous amount of knowledge. Attorney Kraut can leverage his unique experience and relationships to help you get results.

Continue reading "Beverly Hills DUI? How About the Opposite – DUI in Middle of Yellowstone National Park!" »

Analysts and policy experts who look at the problem of driving under the influence in Beverly Hills (and elsewhere in the Southland) often examine data on a surprisingly superficial level.

In other words, it’s often a “quick fix” game – blame the driver, and get on with it. But a breaking story out of Tampa Bay suggests that, whether you’ve been arrested for DUI in Pasadena, Glendale DUI, Los Angeles DUI, DUI in Burbank, or DUI wherever else, you may have more than yourself to blame.

Not convinced? Read on…

37-year old Jayson Kaiser, an Assistant to the Head Coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, got pulled over for DUI last Wednesday. There was nothing particularly newsworthy about the arrest, other than the fact that Kaiser works for the Bucs. News reports say that Kaiser had been driving a 2006 Hyundai when officers stopped him on West Osborne Ave. Kaiser exhibited a lot of signs that are typically associated with Beverly Hills DUI – such as slurred speech, bloodshot and glassy eyes, and odor of alcohol on his person. He said he hadn’t been drinking, and he refused both field sobriety and breathalyzer tests.

Kaiser’s car was impounded, and he was held on a bail of $500. A spokesman for the Bucs, Jonathan Grella, told reporters “we aware of matter and are in the process of reviewing it internally.”

So, Kaiser’s arrest is pretty standard stuff – nothing that regular readers of this blog haven’t read about a million times. But what’s interesting here is that, according to reports, Kaiser is actually the THIRD member of the front office/coaching staff of the Bucs to be arrested in one calendar year. In March, Shelton Quarles, a pro scouting coordinator got tagged with DUI. Last September, an Assistant Offensive Line Coach, Chris Mosley, got tagged for DUI. So, 3 DUIs on the staff within one calendar year! Is that a coincidence? Statistically, it certainly could be.

But it also suggests that potentially something culturally is going on here. Maybe the Bucs' front office culture is “giving the green light” to driving under the influence somehow. This doesn’t mean that the men who got arrested shouldn’t have been more careful -- or should somehow be exonerated because of the social influence factor.

But it does suggest that, if we really want to get to the heart of what causes motorists to drive DUI, we need to look beyond “blaming the individual” and examine the cultural influences that may be the root causes. The thinking is: if we can change what’s going on culturally, we may be able to tamp down on the number of arrests – and make our roads safer.

If you or someone you care about has been recently charged with the crime of driving under influence in Beverly Hills, a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney can be a crucial guide. Connect with the Kraut Law Group in Beverly Hills at 
9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90210 Phone: (310) 550-6935. As a former prosecutor, Mr. Kraut has many connections and an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the Los Angeles prosecutors who will be working your case. Mr. Kraut is a Harvard Law School educated lawyer who is often called upon by media organizations like The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, KTLA, and Fox News to provide his insights into breaking news in the Los Angeles DUI arena.

Continue reading "Beverly Hills DUI Lessons – Tampa Bay Buc Exec's DUI May Hold Lessons for How to Contain the Problem" »

Last Wednesday evening, Jaime Pressly, a 33-year old actress best known for her role on the sitcom My Name Is Earl, got pulled over for a Los Angeles DUI in Santa Monica after police witnessed her committing a traffic violation. According to reports by TMZ.com, Pressly failed a field sobriety test and got taken to jail in Santa Monica. She was ultimately released on a $15,000 bail. Based on her high bail amount, some pundits speculated that -- since Pressly had not been driving with minors and had not been involved an accident -- she likely had an extremely high BAC level (over 0.15%). Police have not yet confirmed or denied this rumor.

If someone you care about has been similarly pulled over for Beverly Hills DUI (or DUI in Pasadena, DUI in Glendale, DUI in Burbank, DUI in Los Angeles, or anywhere else in the Southland region) -- likely, you feel some empathy with the actress, who appears clearly fatigued in her mug shot (see adjacent picture).

This is the first DUI charge Pressly has ever faced – and it marks a distinct downturn in her career from 2007, when she won an Emmy for Best Supporting Actress. After the 2009 cancelation of My Name is Earl, Pressly appeared in commercials for Axe as well as Rules of Engagement on CBS (as a guest star).

Let's learn a bit more about Beverly Hills DUI field sobriety tests -- tests similar to the ones that Pressly allegedly failed. Almost inevitably, your first test will be something called the horizontal gaze nystagmus test. This is a pupil reaction examination. An officer will flash a light in your eyes to determine whether your pupils respond normally. DUI drivers will tend to have a lagging reaction.

Next up on your docket, you will face mental and physical coordination tests. These include the "famous" FSTs you've likely seen on movies and cop shows. They include balancing on one leg (the one leg stand test), walk the line (where you pace back and forth across a line) and of course the finger to the nose test -- where you close your eyes, stick out your hands and attempt to touch your nose with the tips of your fingers. Police may also make you do things like count backwards or say the alphabet backwards.

Police will also be looking for symptoms of Beverly Hills DUI, such as odor of alcohol on your breath or general discombobulation or uncoordination. Police may also ask you to submit to a preliminary alcohol screening (PAS) test. The breathalyzer is a machine that uses chemical analytics to determine your so-called blood alcohol concentration (BAC). If this number is greater than 0.08%, you can be arrested and charged with DUI in Southern California.

Whether you have been arrested for the first time in your life -- like Jaime Pressly was – or you are facing a second, third, or other multiple charge, you need and deserve superior legal representation. Connect immediately with a Los Angeles criminal defense attorney to get a free consultation. Attorney Michael Kraut of the Kraut Law Group is at your service. Attorney Kraut is an experienced, Harvard Law School educated former prosecutor who has tremendous connections with those in Los Angeles DUI community and who has an excellent track record and compassionate, systematic approach to client defense.

Attorney Kraut's Beverly Hills offices are located at 9107 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 450, Beverly Hills, California 90212 (phone number 310-550-6935).

Continue reading "Major Beverly Hills DUI News: "My Name is Earl "Actress Arrested and Held on $15,000 Bail" »

The Beverly Hills DUI that got Lindsay Lohan in trouble and on probation is now taking a turn for the worse. After being sent to rehab, again, by Beverly Hills Judge Elden Fox, she is thrown out due to a physical assault against a Betty Ford clinic worker. Now should face a prison sentence if she is charged by the Riverside DA with a felony assault.

As soon as the assault occurred the victim, Dawn Holland, came out swing in her own right. She spoke to the new media telling all of the facts of the alleged assault. While speaking to the press, Ms. Holland had a medical brace on her right arm. Ms. Holland claims that the Beverly Hills DUI patient came back to the center late and smelled of alcohol. While trying to administer an alcohol detection device, Lindsay Lohan is accused of twisting Ms. Holland's arm causing serious injury while also taking the phone out of her hand when Ms. Holland was attempting to call the police. Both of these actions could result in a felony against the starlet.

Because Ms. Holland spoke to the press about Ms. Lohan's confidential treatment, she was fired from the Betty Ford Center. Just when things looked like Ms. Lohan was going to be violated again on her DUI that occurred in Beverly Hills, or face assault charges for her actions, news comes that Ms. Holland is going to drop her claims of assault. While Ms. Holland's representative states that she does not want anything to do with Ms. Lohan's criminal investigation, it is the District Attorney in both Riverside and Los Angeles that will make the final decision of whether Lindsay Lohan will face any consequences for her actions. Celebrity columnists are reporting on PerezHilton.com that Ms. Holland does not want to be involved in this case in any manner.

Continue reading "Beverly Hills DUI for Lindsay Lohan is Going Down Hill Fast" »